Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Boilerplate

I’m Harold Dykstra.  I’m retired, but I go to food bank distributions all over Tracy and talk to people that need someone who will listen to their story.  My time is well spent.  A police lieutenant suggested that I write down the conversations that I had with an angel.  I did not know she was an angel at the time.  The angel, for a little over a year, indwelled a life-sized posable action figure my children bought me, so that I would not be perceived as travelling alone.  And in a way, she was training me for what I do while talking to the needy.  She probed my heart to find out what I believed and how I express love for others.  She changed my life.

In her leaving, she said someone would come.  I had thought that was Jesus, in His second coming, but a new Babs, a little older, the model for the posable action figure arrived.  While I had no desire to start over with romance, Morrie helped her move in, thinking she was the other Babs who had returned.

This Week’s Question

Last week, Babs and I, and Jayke and Janella did an inventory of our vacation experiences.

This week Babs was on the back porch.  Sugar had climbed onto her lap on a lounge chair.

I asked, “What has gotten into you?  I have never seen you get so comfortable, so fast.”

Babs smiled, “I was just thinking.  We went to the most unusual wedding that I have ever been to.  But it was perfect.  We met Joe last April.  That immediately got us in trouble with Tony who hated handouts, but then after accepting a hand up from Mommie Pinkie, in less than a year, he is now an employer with a comfortable business.  He just married Mary Jo, and suddenly, they are a four-person family: Tony, Mary Jo, little Joe, and very little Franklyn Painter.  I heard they are changing Frank’s name to Franklyn.”

I asked, “I know what I think of the wedding, but what made it unusual and why was it perfect, in your opinion?”

Babs smiled, “The vows were fairly standard.  They said a few words from the heart, but mostly they stuck to the standard wedding vows.  What made it unusual was that there were two best men and two matrons of honor.  The best men were Little Joe and Franklyn.  The matrons of honor were even introduced as Home Wrecker and Bossy Boss (B.B.), not Dr. Ellie Casey and Mary Jones.”

I asked, “And why were they the matrons of honor, wearing their Turtle uniforms?”

Babs sighed, “I had to ask, but then they had the Reality TV episode during the reception.  Home Wrecker delivered the baby with Jochebed giving instructions over the phone.  B.B. had to put her hand inside Mary Jo to turn the baby.  So, the two of them brought Franklyn into the world.  But I’m not finished, all the groomsmen and bridesmaids were the children from the nursery.  Mary Jo has become an integral part of the nursery.  She keeps everything clean and she is great with the children.  But with her as the bride, they enlisted the A and B Teams of Turtle-eers to heard the children to the front and then back out again.  They even had our Matthew and Maddie with their two friends from the Kildare clan. And that is what I think is perfect. While it focused on the love that Tony and Mary Jo have for each other, it showed that marriage is also about family.”

I asked, “Is that the purpose of marriage?  Family?”

Babs asked in return, “Isn’t it?”

I smiled, “As usual Babs, you have an idea that is close, and what you said is part of it.  But first God just wanted to make for Adam a suitable companion, but then immediately came the covenant agreement between the man and the woman, ‘The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.’ (Genesis 2:18-24).”

Babs asked, “If these were the first two people on earth, then why have a covenant that says they must leave their parents?”

I smiled, “This was written by Moses thousands of years later.  God impressed on Adam and Eve that this was how it should be.  So, we have companionship and a God ordained covenant.  ‘“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.’ (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10).  This adds an element of accountability and partnership.  And quoting Genesis 2, Paul says. ‘“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.’ (Ephesians 5:31-32).  That adds the element of us showing God’s love.”

Babs giggled, “But all that responsibility and companionship and partnership revolves around Christ’s love and the family, Harold.  The couple do not do all that in a vacuum.  Peter instructs the people. ‘Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.’ (1 Peter 4:8).  And Paul told Timothy, ‘Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.’ (1 Timothy 5:8).  So that is our way of being responsible among the members of the family.  ‘Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.’ (Proverbs 22:6).  And children can be our treasure.  ‘Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.’ (Psalm 127:3).“

I smiled, “I have heard Proverbs 22:6 used as a guarantee, but then I had a instructional friend tell me that the verse was true.  But you had no control over when the child was listening.  Joshua set up twelve stones as a lesson.  He said, ‘And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’’ (Joshua 4:20-22).  Even then the children forgot.  The parents probably said those stones are a reminder for me to tell you that we walked over the Jordan on dry ground, but that was long ago.  If they had really remembered how powerful God was, they would not have forgotten so quickly.  They would not have gone toward false gods at all.  But we chase after every new fad.  We are just as bad, if not worse.”

Babs scrunched her nose, “But Harold, can we just focus on today?  Did you hear what the four of them are going to do?  They are going to Gordon’s honeymoon pecan farm.  They’ll get a load of pecans on the return trip.  They are going to do the usual tour in St. Augustine, but then, they are going to the Gulf Coast and visiting what was the Driver’s home in Cross City, Florida.  They’ll stay there a few days, do some fishing in the Gulf, but they are going to flash freeze some filets caught by a commercial fishing friend of Darrell and Mary Jo.  They’ll use the Hillbilly limo that we rode on, and they will load one or two freezers full of fish for Lily the Pink.  That pays for the trip down if the catch is good.”

I asked, “Babs, how do they keep it frozen on the flight back?”

Babs giggled, “Dry ice, silly.  And before you ask, they are hoping for red snapper, since that is early in the season, but they are looking for grouper, mahi mahi and blackfin tuna.  He said something else but it sounded like a cheer of some kind.”

I laughed, “He was probably saying wahoo.”

Babs said, “There you go cheering about some great fish to catch.  But what is it?”

I smiled, “Babs, the fish is called wahoo.  It is usually a sport fish, one of the fastest fish in the ocean.  The Hawaiian’s call it ono, meaning ‘delicious’.  But back to our penniless neighbor as of a year ago. They have a wedding filled with little children that have no clue what to do with the bouquet.  That was hilarious.  And now they are on a very practical assignment for Pink Lady to help pay for the honeymoon?”

Babs scrunched her nose again, “Tony makes good money, but so far, it is putting food on the table, paying employees, and buying equipment.  Snow plowing and lawncare both require a lot of tools.  And he may branch into landscaping in another year or two.  He already knows a lot about what flowers to plant at what times.  And it’s just to offset the fuel costs on the airplane.  I think Amy G. Dala was having the pilots run some errands along the coast for the Newmans.  But I think Mary Jo wanted to have her son see where he was born and expose Little Joe to the joys of simple life in Florida.  And maybe she was going to visit old friends and tell them there is life after the strip clubs, but Jesus is the answer.”

Harold smiled, “Yes, I think we should pray that the Holy Spirit is with her when she meets her friends.  But I wonder with two children going along, how will they become members of the mile high club?  Are they bringing along a babysitter?”

Babs giggled, “Tony said that Amy has classic cartoon shows on the television screens in the main cabin, and Joe can call the pilots if he has any problems with Franklyn.

Credits

All these conversations remind me of my conversations with my wife.  We would talk about anything and everything.  And most of the time, it sounded like a discussion in a Sunday school class.

Franklyn Painter was named Frank Lynn at birth, son of Mary Jo Lynn.

State and federal restrictions on red snapper are lifted in June, so the chance to catch a lot of it would be that month.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.